Waxing Crescent (Alice Cullen x Bella Swan)

Chapter 16 - Tolerance Becomes Acceptance

Saturday. 7:00pm.

I hesitated outside, rolling back on my heels. I couldn't decide whether it was worth it.

I could hear them all. They were laughing. They all seemed so happy.

I'd hate to be the one to ruin that.

One foot drifted backwards, scraping over weathered floorboards. Only a second passed for it to snap right back into place.

Then again, I'd also hate to be alone tonight.

I stumbled forward, dragging my feet the whole way up the front stoop.

On top of feeling pervasively antisocial, I wasn't too excited to see Mike. 

Any chance he could get to talk to me he'd jump on it like an overeager line-backer. He never managed to take a hint. I would find any old excuse to get away and yet he kept coming back for more. It's like the boy got off on rejection.

It was getting to the point where I'd legitimately contemplated asking Emmett to maybe scare him off a little - not with a tonne of violence, but, perhaps, a burly shove or two? But I figured that would be soaring too close to the sun, and to Alice.

The other day it'd gotten so bad, that he basically ignored Jessica completely and kept cutting her off to talk to me. I'd never seen her look so sour, and I wouldn't have blamed her if she directed her glares at me.

She didn't, though. She just ended up looking down at her shoes like she was somewhere else entirely. It made me feel wretched.

I was so mad when I got home I practically threw my bag on the floor before I rushed out into the backyard. I don't know what had come over me but I needed some sort of release. Hiking into the woodland fringing the house not only seemed like an appealing idea, but the only way to work off my anger. 

If I tripped over a few roots and stray rocks, so be it. At least the cuts and bruises would be a distraction.

I followed the trail, half worn by humans and half worn by wild fauna, traversing through bracken and over rocky moss and damp earth for what felt like an hour.

I'd collapsed onto a flat little rock perfect for sitting, and dug the heels of my boots into the loamy soil at its base. My head fell into my hands.

I'd stayed there for a while, doing my darnedest to figure out a way to both rip my heart out of my chest and throw it away, as well as kill Mike.

I hadn't gotten very far regarding the heart issue, but I was sure a wood-chipper would come in handy for the latter.

It only occurred to me that I ought to be getting home when the hairs on the back of my neck started to prickle. I jerked my head up, my eyes darting around the forest. I hadn't noticed it at the time, but it had become deathly still.

I craned my neck, trying to make out a single squeak or bird call, but nothing. Absolute silence.

I'd gotten up quickly, and began to stumble back along the trail in a clumsy mad dash. It was stupid really. Still, for whatever reason, it felt as though death was imminent.

The worst part of it all was, just as I was making my way free, and about to burst out into the clearing of my yard, I swore I spotted two large brown eyes leering at me through the trees. As soon as I looked back to get a better view... It was gone.

No doubt my fantastical mind was at again. Vampires no longer enough, I was now onto boogeymen.

I couldn't tell what was scarier. The woods that evening? Or here and now, standing out front of Eric Yorkie's house.